2017 was a wonderful year for us not just because we got married but also because we were able to travel to different places together. Since we love travelling, we planned for our honeymoon to be in installments but we never thought we would be able to go to as many countries as we have the past year.

In 2017, our first year as a married couple, we were able to visit 11 countries:

• United Arab Emirates
• Japan
• Taiwan
• The Netherlands
• France
• Belgium
• Switzerland
• Italy
• Germany
• Australia
• New Zealand

We often get asked, especially by followers of our page and this blog, how we are able to travel frequently. They ask if we are still employed and for some advice.

To those who don’t know, we have regular office jobs so yes, we don’t have all the time in the world to travel. We just rely on our accumulated vacation leaves and non-working holidays. We usually plan ahead (i.e. we booked our Dubai tickets for February 2017 in October 2016; our Japan tickets for May 2017 in January 2017; our Australia tickets for October 2017 in February 2017; and our Netherlands tickets for June 2017 in October 2016).

We’d also like to think we’re practical travelers, always on the lookout for seat sales and promos. Actually, since we want to travel the whole world anyway, we choose our next destination based on seat sales (i.e. We got our Dubai tickets for just around P12,000 each; Japan for P6,000; Netherlands for P33,000; and Australia for P12,000)

While we love 5-star hotels (who doesn’t?), we as much as possible go for standard accommodation (i.e. 3 to 4-star hotels and Airbnb) without sacrificing cleanliness and comfort. Since we’d be most of the time out of the hotel anyway, we always stick to practical accommodation. It also helps that we run a travel agency by ourselves, so we have access to good deals. Believe it or not, sometimes, travel agencies can still offer better deals than websites.

Lastly, while we are able to travel to different places, our priority is still having savings for our future. We live by a total budget and we set aside just a percentage of our income for travel. We stick to that travel budget and work with it. Thankfully, we have our side businesses (i.e. Sophisticat Shoes and the travel agency) to supplement our salaries.

Thank you, Lord for an amazing 2017! Excited for the rest of 2018! ❤